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When the updated and truncated 2020 MLB season officially got underway with Summer Camp, everything went about as badly as we all feared and perhaps expected.
Players tested positive for the coronavirus, including San Francisco Giants prospect Hunter Bishop and non-roster invitee Luis Madero. Teams canceled workouts because they hadn’t received their results in time. Everything was awful.
And now, for perhaps the first time, baseball has some encouraging news on the coronavirus front. MLB released their latest data, with results through Thursday, and it’s very promising. Only six people — five players — tested positive.
MLB/MLBPA announced that in latest round of COVID-19 testing, just 6 of 10,548 samples were new positives. The Giants haven't announced a positive test in 11 days. This all seems encouraging as opening day approaches.
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) July 17, 2020
The league sold it as six positive tests in 10,548 samples, but many of those samples were on the same people. Still, with more than 1,500 players in Summer Camps, plus coaches and front office personnel, six positives is encouraging. It points to players being responsible, and to teams getting results more quickly, and thus being able to limit spread when there is a positive case.
The Giants are set to open the season in just six days against the Los Angeles Dodgers. Questions still abound, but with the latest test results, it seems all but certain that the 2020 season will start. Maybe it won’t finish, but it sure seems like it will start.
Most of us probably still have questions, or still feel uneasy about it. But the fact that the league is getting data back quickly, and that the results are encouraging, should at least make us all feel a little bit more comfortable when we tune into Opening Day.